Some weeks ago, CNN contacted me to request a piece on how the US Presidential Election resonates in the streets of Athens today. Immediately, a hazy image came to me of a warm afternoon when I was walking with my mother outside the Panathinaikon Stadium, in central Athens. I was seven years old then but I vividly recall her tears the moment she heard a newsboy announce Bobby Kennedy’s death and bought one of his newspapers to confirm the news. While I had no idea who the deceased was, her grief gave me the chilling feel that things would be getting worse for us Greeks. It was, after all, one year into the military dictatorship that marked my childhood. Anyway, that was my first encounter with the very concept of US Presidential Elections. So I chose to begin my CNN piece (which you can read here) with that opening story.

One disclaimer: The title of the piece (Is the US Election keeping Greece in the Euro?) is not mine. My point, on the matter, was that many Greeks are fearful that any move to jettison Greece from the euro will come after the US Presidential Election and, for this reason, they are not keen to see the back of that election. I did not insinuate that Greece will be thrown out of the euro after November.

6 Comments

The near-zero level of understanding exhibited by the opinionated morons commenting on the CNN site is quite remarkable. Clearly, the world’s media have done an excellent job of propagating neoliberal propaganda to the masses — who actually cannot think outside of that framework of invalid axioms, incorrect facts and ridiculous beliefs about society and economy.

I read the CNN article too and thought it was meant as an evasion of the title’s question. Judging by the troika’s hardened stance this week, in spite of Samaras’ desparate charm offensive in Berlin, Paris and Frankfurt – my answer to the title’s question is YES.
Wait until the troika is given the go-ahead to release its long-delayed “compliance assessment report” some time in mid-November… ALL THE BETS ARE OFF!

For the record, the evening we heard that JF Kennedy had been assassinated I had been invited to a birthday party at which I sat down and cried my heart out. Looking back I must have placed a great deal of faith in a man that, as I still see it; had the sort of vision of the future that matched my own.

Today, all I see is the complete dichotomy between the ordinary people of the US who are really welcoming and hospitable, making wonderful friends and always open to a conversation filled with laughter, and the utter refusal of those holding positions of power and influence, ( that lead US foreign policy from their positions within their administration that is in turn again, deeply influenced by the utterly dreadful mindset of the leadership of their secret armies, delivering democracy with extraordinary rendition and torture with extra-judicial executions by drone as icing on their cake on the one hand and on the other; deliberately dumping grossly over leveraged fake money onto other nations, while walking away laughing at the economic destruction so caused); to abide by even their own law and constitution, let alone international treaties. So it has been hardly surprising that they cynically turned their backs on the need to ensure that their banking system delivered an honest economy to the rest of the planet.

All we can do here is constantly point out that dichotomy with the long term hope that they may, in time; return to the path the Kennedy’s described so well and which so inspired a generation of Europeans.

US

Thank you for visiting my blog. As you have just clicked on ABOUT, I take the liberty of assuming that a tale on how this blog came into being, as well as a few intimate details on its author, may be in order